354 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA 



determined to march straight to that station by the direct 

 road to the north of the Narbada. That frightful march 

 still lives in my dreams. For the first ten days we kept to 

 the elevated coimtry south of the river, which we then 

 crossed. The country to the north is an utterly bare 

 sheet of black basalt, without a field or a tree, or, I beUeve, 

 hardly a blade of grass. Sharp glancing flakes of white 

 quartz alone relieved the inky black of the horrible rocks. 

 The sun was at its very hottest, and heavy thunderous 

 clouds now gathered round the sky, oppressing the air 

 with a sultry stillness far worse than the fiercest hot blast 

 of the earUest summer. Day after day we toUed along 

 in the fierce heat, pitching in a burning plain, without a 

 particle of shade; and I really thought that before we 

 reached Jubbulpiir on the 16th of July, I should have had 

 to sit down decently and give up the ghost. I had marched 

 close on a thousand miles in changes of camp alone since 

 I left the station in the preceding January. How much 

 more should be added for our explorations it would not be 

 easy to say. 



The monsoon burst a day or two after ; and in the comfort 

 of the beautiful Kttle station, and its pleasant society, I 

 soon got over my troubles. I was very much broken in 

 health, however, by constant exposure to the malaria of 

 the jimgles, at all seasons of the year. I had never lost 

 the remains of the fever I had contracted the previous 

 year; and, I may add, never did so till I had a trip to 

 England. 



I have no intention of attempting a treatise on Indian 

 forestry, for which, indeed, there are as yet few available 

 materials ; but a few remarks on the present aspect of the 

 question may not be out of place before concluding my 

 work. 



The Government of India has been fully awakened to 

 the necessity of watching over the important part of their 

 trust which resides in the forest regions. Even now it 

 is doubtful whether the clearances already effected have 

 not seriously deteriorated the rainfall of the country, as 

 they certainly have much impaired the supply of Tiseful 

 timber; and the example of many countries, ancient and 



